Legacy
by beatl394
Summary: Hazel Grace reflects on the existence of Augustus Waters.


Some writers are incredibly talented at filling pages upon pages with tales of adventure, of love, of success, and of failure. They have the ability to weave brilliant tapestries out of words alone, which is more than most of us can say. Stories that span more than a few pages take endurance and patience that very few possess. Personally, though, I have always admired the short story writers. Short stories, to me, are stories that could have gone on, but didn't need to. Good short stories have the same impact as long stories, with fewer words. Every writer has the same arsenal—in English, they have 26 letters to do whatever they please with. Great short stories use these letters in heart-breaking, breath-taking arrangements, which give you a glimpse into one part of someone's story. Everyone has a story to tell, whether it has happened or not. That's why I have never lost hope entirely, because as much as hope has eluded me in some times of my life, I am going to have a story worth telling one day, and I know that Augustus Waters will be waiting to hear it.

He was my first real everything. When someone claims another person as their everything, it usually means that they love them more than anything else at that moment. My love for Augustus Waters stretches through the ages and back, fills up every ounce of space possible. It runs deeper than the human mind and farther than sadness can penetrate. My love for him has not subsided in the aching abyss known as my heart, but it remains there. Unmovable. Augustus Waters is not someone to get over. He will remain with me for the rest of my mortal life, and on into whatever happens to my soul after death. If I believed in reincarnation, I would say that Augustus is already on his way to somewhere else in the world where someone else needs him more than I did. I don't believe in reincarnation. If I believed in Heaven or Hell, I would think that he is looking down at the world from a perspective he would appreciate more than anyone. I don't believe in Heaven or Hell. If I believed that nothing happens after death, I still could not say that Augustus Waters was gone. Someone like Augustus cannot possibly exist for only the span of his life. I don't know how or why, but I have never been more certain about anything in my life—I will see him again.

Knowing Augustus taught me several things about the world. Firstly, to question _why _and not _what. _What is boring—there can only be so many whats for any given situation. Why is a different story. Romeo is nothing in comparison to Gus. Romeo is full of what. What he does. What he doesn't do. What happens to him. To them. Augustus was a individual of why. What was Augustus Waters? A male member of the human race. Why was Augustus Waters? We have all been denied the pleasure of knowing, but not spared the pain of missing why he was.

The second thing I learned was about the sheer beauty of words. The most incredible thing about words is that they are both infinite and finite at the same time. Words themselves are an infinite resource, stretching across all the languages of the world, found in every corner of humans and history. But how many words we speak is finite, because when our hearts stop moving, our lips must follow in a similar fashion. Be careful of your words, always choose them wisely.

Augustus Waters was a master weaver of words. He could make anything beautiful just by speaking of it. If you let him, he could go on forever about the significance and exquisiteness of something as simple as a stone on the road, or something as ugly as a dandelion. But he didn't go on forever to change your mind about the importance of everything, because he didn't need to. A few simple words could convince anyone of the value. In the same way, Augustus Waters lived his life. His appreciation of the complexness of simplicity forever changed my view on living. Living is not a chore, it is an expedition for the story that is worth telling. Whether that story is your entire life or just a brief second, you must never stop looking for it. Augustus Waters' story-worth-telling was a short one. It could have gone on, but it didn't need to. He spent his mere seventeen years weaving the most magnificent story that the world could handle—his life.


End file.
